“From this time onward the three active Commissioners manifested the greatest care and a most wise discretion in every detail of the work. Never was a corrupt or misspent dollar charged to their account. The prime principle of honesty in the expenditure of public money, which requires a dollar’s worth for every dollar spent, was their constant guide. Thanks to their unusual fidelity to this obligation and to their wise tact in procedure, the Senators and Representatives trusted them session after session with amounts largely in excess of the original estimates until the cost of the finished structure has amounted to $2,871,682.05. Instead of grumbling and dissatisfaction on part of the people over the cost, there was universal pride in the noble building. * * * Every farmer and mechanic, every merchant and patriotic citizen of Iowa, as he views the grandeur of its proportions, the massive, time-defying walls, the splendid legislative chambers, the beautiful library, the fire-proof vaults, the large and convenient executive offices, the ample committee rooms, and its general adaption to the wants of an intelligent and advancing State, feels and expresses satisfaction over this home of his State government. It is his constant boast that there is not a dishonest dollar from the base course to the crown of the dome. * * * The names of John G. Foote, Peter A. Dey and Robert S. Finkbine should long be remembered among us as names of men who executed their duties faithfully and well, and who were above the sordid temptation to make private profit out of a public trust, under which so many men elsewhere have fallen.”
On the 23d of January William B. Allison was elected for a third time to the United States Senate for a term of six years. The Democratic members voted for Benton J. Hall and the members of the Greenback party gave their votes to D. M. Clark.
In reaction to the prohibitory amendment to the Constitution, which had been declared void by the Supreme Court, Governor Sherman in his message says:
“The proposition to amend the fundamental law by the prohibition of the sale of intoxicants as a beverage, having passed the several stages of legislation prerequisite, was at last submitted to the citizens of the State and by them adopted by a decisive vote. The amendment so adopted was attempted to be nullified by the coördinate branch.
“Various opinions prevailed as to such an attempt and its binding force and effort; but one only can obtain as to the moral obligation resting upon the representatives of the people in the General Assembly in such an emergency. The duty remains to the lawmaking powers that the principle thus adopted by the people must be voiced in proper statutory enactments;
